The nature of faith in human lives,

Tillich, along with C.S. Lewis, is sometimes called the apostle to the skeptics. Here he interprets faith in a manner that is fairly bullet-proof against skepticism. In doing so, he embraces some unorthodox ideas. Some will of course condemn him for this. If orthodoxy is your sole criteria, then I suppose you have no choice. But no one who gives his work careful attention can deny that he was a lover of God and a truth-seeker of the first order. I guess that is enough for me. He has influenced other great minds, including Bishop Robert Barron and Martin Luther King Jr. He brought me to faith, for which I am eternally grateful. ( )

When I read Tillich in the 1980s and this book in particular, I found his thought brilliant and exciting. This was one of the books that focused my thoughts on spirituality in general and Christianity in particular.
As I am rereading it now, I find it much more difficult and suspect that I am reading it at a much deeper level. ( )

Faith is a big word which points towards an even bigger concept. In the New Testament, faith stands for a deep trust and belief. In Dynamics of Faith, Tillich offers his take on this concept. Put succinctly:

"Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned" (1).

This, of course, is an expansion on the New Testament's idea of deep trust and belief in a person—Tillich's faith comes from a philosophical viewpoint which engages all religions. While Christian faith in the person of Jesus Christ falls under his definition of "being ultimately concerned," so do many other faiths, even secular and national faiths.

Dynamics of Faith is a very thoughtful book which deserves a careful reading. There are elements on every page to evaluate theologically.

Tillich does a fine job at clearing away some of the misunderstandings of faith. Faith is no mere "act of knowledge that has a low degree of evidence" (31), nor is it "the feeling of unconditional dependence" (38) à la Schleiermacher.

Another strength of this book is Tillich's acceptance of doubt as part of faith. Consider this argument (that has been picked up today by Peter Rollins):

"If faith is understood as belief that something is true, doubt is incompatible with the act of faith. If faith is understood as being ultimately concerned, doubt is a necessary element in it. It as a consequence of the risk of faith" (18).

What a powerfully pastoral idea! Doubt could actually be part of faith rather than an enemy of it.

My biggest problem with Tillich's argument came with his separation between the ultimate and other fields of study. When explaining potential conflicts between faith and science, history, and philosophy, he strongly asserted the need to keep these realms separate:

"Science has no right and no power to interfere with faith and faith has no power to interfere with science. One dimension of meaning is not able to interfere with another dimension" (81-2).

Of course, if you understand the incarnation as the hypostatic union between God and humanity, then dimensional interference is precisely what happened!

Dynamics of Faith was published in 1957. Now, over 50 years later, it is still a good way to spark meaningful theological discussion and thought on one of the biggest theological categories in scripture. ( )

Interesting book. A little hard to engage and follow. Tillich presents a very straight-forward approach to what faith is and what it is not. ( )